Hundreds of life-saving drug dealers, medical store owners and distributors of allopathic, herbal, Homeopathic medicines carried out a protest rally Tuesday on the third day of their protest against the proposed amendments in Drug Act 1976 - bringing strict penalties and heavy fines for sale of fake or substandard medicines.
They observed sit in (Dharna) at Chowk Nawan Shehr under the leadership of Muhammad Akhtar Butt, Sheikh Muhammad Naeem, Muhammad Hussain Sindhu, Malik Kamran Nazir, Irfan Ahmed Haqqani and Sheikh Faisal Rehman. They also staged protest demonstrations in different part of the city, sparking traffic congestion on almost all minor and major roads making extremely inconvenient for commuters and pedestrians. Meanwhile, associations of drug stores and distributors observed strike and shut down their businesses for the whole day and carried out protest rallies against the proposed amendments under consideration of Punjab government. The protestors while holding placards and banners chanted slogans against Chief Minister Punjab, Chief Secretary, Health Secretary and Government of Punjab.
The drug store owners and workers took out a big protest rally from Ghanta Ghar and marched towards Multan Press Club on the Abdali Road. The protestors chanted slogans against the proposed amendments as they carried placards and banners in support of their demands.
The protests on roads impeded traffic flow on Abdali road, LMQ road, Kalima chowk road, Dera Adda road. They said that if the provincial government passed the proposed amended laws then they would stage more protests and call for an unending strike. The protesters said that they would close down their businesses if the amendments were put in place. Explaining the concerns of the distributors and medical store owners, Muhammad Akhtar butt, president of drug union, said that the proposed amendments would make sale of expired, misbranded, and substandard medicines a crime and would carry harsh punishments. He said that under the proposed law, the seller of expired, misbranded, and substandard medicines could face jail for up to six months without bail. The sellers and manufacturers could face from one to five years jail term and fine from Rs10 million to Rs50 million if convicted. He said the punishments were harsh and the fine was too high.
"The drug dealers and medical stores owners have objections over the punishment for the sellers and distributors," he said. He said we were all human beings and human error could not be ruled out. He said that they were not against the anti-spurious drug campaign but the government should not introduce harsh punishments for the crime not committed by the distributors or sellers. On the other hand, the citizens, who were stuck in traffic congestions also lashed out at the Punjab government for creating troubles for citizens. They said that the government should avoid locking horns with drug dealers and medical stores owners and review its policies.